“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he remarks, pinching the bridge of his nose at the inconvenience.
“What did you do to me?” the man asks, fury and worry mixing together.
“I made you better,” Ambroyss condescends, “but you must have a death wish coming at me like this.”
“You’re the dead man walking.”
“Actually, that’s all the guards that let you slip through the cracks.” Ambroyss blasts the stranger with wind, knocking him back a decent distance, judging by the sound of his body slamming into a wall. But more feet pound against the dirt, coming from the same direction.
I really wish I was facing the other way.
Callum looks like he’s itching to attack, but I don’t know if he’s waiting for my go-ahead or Ambroyss’s.
Do what you have to do,I tell him. Just in case.
And he does, spewing the inky tendrils out toward whoever comes next.
“Get her out of here! That’s an order!” Ambroyss barks. But Callum doesn’t listen—not even a twitch of acknowledgement—because all his focus has turned to protecting me.
I wish I could say the shift is slow, like there is enough time to say something verbal or otherwise. But I have the perfect view of Ambroyss. His eyes cast down to me, his order still going unfulfilled. Then they move back up to Callum, who’s oblivious to everything else going on.
It is like nothing I’ve ever seen. Ambroyss’s eyes glow with a deep red, matching mist appearing in his hand. He sees the betrayal, the command going unanswered.
Callum must finish with whatever ambush is going on, because he turns his head down to me, wordlessly making sure I’m unharmed.
But it’s too late.
The maroon smoke blasts him, and I see the sinister smirk spread over Ambroyss’s stupid, smug face.
No.
Callum’s face pinches with pain, his body locking up on impact. “Such a shame. Such promise,” Ambroyss muses. “But once a traitor, always a traitor.” I drown him out, drowneverythingout. My eyes are unable to move off of Callum’s still form.
Get up,I demand, trying to get these stupid enchanted shackles off my wrists.Get up!I manage to get onto my knees, fear encompassing me when he’s still unresponsive.
“What did you do?!” I wail in agony.
“He has proven to be more of a liability than an asset,” he says nonchalantly, like this is boring him and he has better thingsto be doing. The red fades from his eyes. “There is no room for traitors.”
Tears cloud my vision as I stare into Callum’s deep green eyes, “Listen to me. You arenotdying. Do you understand?” The corner of his lips quirk up the slightest bit, grabbing the side of my face with his hand. I want to pull away, already living in denial of what’s happening directly in front of my eyes.
But the moment his lips part and his deep, husky voice passes through, I can’t help but lean in. “Always so stubborn.”
“Don’t give up. Do you hear me, Callum? Youfight!” I demand, even though it’s no use.
“There wasn’t a moment in time that I didn’t love you.”
“Don’t,” I plead on a choked whisper.
“Even when I shouldn’t have,” he continues, “even when I wasn’t myself, my love for you never died. In fact, it’s what brought me back. Although it was only for a short time, I wouldn’t change a thing.” He struggles toward the end, oxygen dwindling. With the little strength he has left, he pulls me close, and when our lips meet, it’s like everything hits me all at once. The tears finally break, trailing down my cheeks and transferring to his. Despite his depleting energy, he kisses me with passion—want—deepening it like he’s afraid to stop.
I am too.
Then I feel it. The sudden shift. The way the world stops spinning, and everything stands still. The ground might as well open up right here, take me with him so I don’t have to feel anything at all.
Reluctantly and slowly, he pulls away, dropping his head back down onto the dirt floor. His eyes search mine, tracking over every inch of my face like he’s committing it to memory.
I know, because I’m doing the same. The subtle natural arch of his eyebrows. The deep, imprinting green of his eyes. And because I was thinking about them, he flashes me a smile thebest he can so I can see both of those devilish dimples that captivated me from the beginning. I imagine those scars living on his body and how I never found out how he got them or what stories his tattoos tell.
